She is right that the print media that survive will be the ones with a more vigorous online presence (and I would add that the print media should then increase investigative reporting and longer articles to distinguish — Macleans and Macleans.ca seem to be succeeding here.

But you are right also, and the reason is clicks. The content of her sites is almost irrelevant — it’s the click-throughs from the headlines that garner revenue. So regardless of how it twists the ‘article’ in question, Huffpost metrics try to squeeze as many controversial/gossipy/polarizing/stats-driven-buzzwords in as possible.

The ultimate Huffpost headline would read something like “SARAH PALIN SLAMS NAKED LADY GAGA OVER MICHELLE BACHMANN’S VIEWS ON GLEE!”

It’s a horrible site that dumbs things down.

It also pays its contributors poorly, if at all.